10 Tracks You Have To Hear This Week (30/08/09)

Lo! The return of our favourite bedroom electronicists, in their new four-piece guise. Rather than slam back with a twisted banger in the vein of ‘Radio Ladio’, Joe Mount’s opted to worm his way under our skins with a glimmeringly low-key paean to doomed romance. This remix from Paul Epworth associate Alalal adds another level of bittersweet bliss.

It starts with an electronic yawn, like the rumble from the maw of some digital whale shark, but from there on in the opener of TTT’s second EP alternately twinkles and booms like a star being born. With glitches and guitar flourishes falling over each other in a bid to massage your nucleus accumbens, this feels like being hugged by a computerised god.

They’re gothy, they’re noisy, they’re a little bit scary, but the New York trio who love to abuse our cochleas are diehard romantics underneath all the bluster. Like early New Order getting into a bar brawl with The Jesus And Mary Chain, this is all seething surly emotions, inspired by girls and the way that sometimes they are not very nice to you. We’d tell them to have a nice cup of tea and a sit down, but they’re just too sexy when they’re angry.

It’s probably the track on her fantastic, fantastic album that had us hairbrush-singing into the mirror most often, a sheer melody thrill that’s compulsively singable. This remix treatment by Parisian DJ DatA lets Elly’s shrill vocal attack take the lead over muscular synths and violent stabs of disco strings, bucking like some sort of bequiffed fidget house robotic bronco.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtSTObCrNP4&hl=en&fs=1

5. Joy Orbison – Hyph Mngo

Melding the sound of UK funky and dubstep in a track that’s both exuberant and spooky at the same time, this track from Londoner Mr Orbison is so irresistible it makes us want to start a tribute act named Roy Division.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsJVW5apRmY&hl=en&fs=1

6. Chickenhawk – I Hate This, Do You Like It?

Leeds based Chickenhawk are a group of riff thrasing metal bastards from the wrong side of your worst hangover. Take note, their drummer hits harder than the last time you dreamed you were Todd Trainer. This is the perfect raw vocal antidote to chirpy summer singalongs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2iGSmbaesI&hl=en&fs=1

7. Beth Jeans Houghton – I Will Return, I Promise!

Think ‘Radio 2 Single Of The Week’ isn’t an accolade that screams indie cred? Think again. This track, taken from Newcastle glam-folk legend in the making Beth Jeans Houghton’s new EP, ‘Hot Toast Vol 1’, will definitely see Terry Wogan enjoy his coolest foray into the limelight since his Franz Ferdinand namecheck. This is fresh, funny and exciting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwkTCov06Pk&hl=en&fs=1

8. Lightning Bolt – Colossus

The first track to be released from Lightning Bolt’s fifth studio album, ‘Earthly Delights’, is, as expected, a gargantuan beast of Herculean ferocity. But for a noise rock duo notorious for having a back catalogue shrouded in stealthy gore and glory, ‘Colossus’ is a slight change in tack, in that it’s teased open with an esoteric droning bass and whale-birthing-esque hollers before unleashing a barrage of filthy distortion, relentless drums and an existential gibbering vocal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5ZeASxPYFU&hl=en&fs=1

9. Lewd Acts – Nightcrawlers

When a band specifically pegs themselves as “opting to embrace their pre-1988 punk and hardcore influences” you know shit’s getting heavy without a side-swept haircut in sight. And Cali’s Lewd Acts are precisely, thrillingly so: gruff of throat and crunchy of guitar, this cut from new record ‘Black Eye Blues’ is a melodic welt to be worn proudly. Play loud, thrash hard, rinse, repeat.

In which the sweaty Australian power-rockers embrace dubstep influences, abrasive synths and sub-bass… no, don’t be silly, of course they don’t. Ridiculous, farcical, ludicrous meaty, beaty big and bouncy classic raunch rock, for when there’s just too much serious in your life.